Mujuru courts Team Lacoste

HARARE - Former Vice President Joice Mujuru’s Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) is open to the idea of working together with disaffected supporters of embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, if this will help dislodge President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF from power in the 2018 national elections.

ZPF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo told the Daily News yesterday that their party was inviting all Zimbabweans, including those still in Zanu PF who genuinely believed that the ruling party was now a lost cause, to join hands with Mujuru and confront the country’s “dictatorship” for the good of all.

Gumbo was speaking in the wake of Tuesday’s hard-hitting pronouncements by prominent war veteran and one of Mnangagwa’s most loyal supporters, Victor Matemadanda, who said bluntly that Mujuru’s ruthless purge from Zanu PF in late 2014 had been “a grave mistake”.

Gumbo warmly welcomed this growing realisation by many war veterans that Zanu PF had become a “predatory piranha party”, further calling on “all those other comrades who have realised that Zanu PF is no more” to work with ZPF to get rid of “this totalitarian regime”.

He also said Matemadanda’s “accurate observations” vindicated what he and other former Zanu PF bigwigs, who were booted out of the former liberation movement, had been saying all along that Mugabe was now running the party and the country on the basis of rumours and lies.

“We have been fully vindicated. Those who were at the forefront of pushing us out (of Zanu PF) are the ones admitting that they were wrong.

“We are now inviting all in Zanu PF who genuinely believe that the party has lost the way and that we need to confront this dictatorship for the good of the nation to join hands with us. We welcome all democratic forces to this noble endeavour,” Gumbo said.

He commended Matemadanda and other war veterans, saying their open admission of their mistakes was “what is expected of human beings”.

“We welcome that and urge all democratic forces with whom we share the same values and aspirations to put their hands up and join us. The fact is, Zimbabweans need to work hard to restore confidence in the country,” Gumbo said.

Mujuru’s olive branch to her erstwhile Zanu PF comrades is being extended at a time when she is also mulling reaching an electoral pact with other opposition parties, including former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC.

Analysts say should the mooted grand coalition of opposition parties materialise, Mugabe’s 36 years in power would almost certainly come to a screeching halt in 2018.

To make matters worse for the increasingly-frail nonagenarian and Zanu PF, Mnangagwa’s allies are ramping up their assault on him, claiming that he is being held hostage by the ruling party’s ambitious Young Turks known as the G40 — who are rabidly opposed to the Midlands godfather succeeding Mugabe.

The Daily News — which has consistently and accurately reported on Zanu PF’s ugly goings-on over the past five years — carried a story yesterday which said, as the ruling party’s deadly infighting was getting more intractable by the day, miffed war veterans were becoming increasingly critical of Mugabe.

Matemadanda told the country’s leading daily newspaper that Mujuru’s ruthless purge from Zanu PF in 2014 had been “a grave mistake” which had opened the door for “opportunists, cultists and rumour-mongers” to lie and manipulate their way in the warring former liberation movement — to the extent that today the party and its leaders “do not know where they are coming from or going”.

“All of us in Zanu PF then reacted to what those people were saying about Mujuru. There were a lot of allegations against Mujuru and because it was coming from high offices, we believed the allegations.

“But we now see these people for who they truly are,” Matemadanda said.

He added that it was not just Mujuru who had been “hard done” by the party when she was hounded out of Zanu PF on untested allegations of plotting to oust and kill Mugabe, but also all her supporters as well who had similarly been kicked out of the party.

“This is why every person who worked with Mujuru is now being approached and asked to return. They (opportunists) have not proved the allegations, yet they want the people back in the party, and it makes us wonder.

“These (opportunists) are the same people who suspended (former senior Cabinet minister and politburo heavyweight) Nicholas Goche, but all of a sudden now want to work with him.

“They must apologise to the nation for soiling all these people’s names. And because of all this, one can conclude that all is not well in the party,” the aggrieved Matemadanda said, adding that it was clear that Mugabe and his wife Grace were being misled by these opportunists.

“It is now up to the First Family to disassociate themselves from these malicious behaviours. Zimbabwe is being run based on rumour mongers,” he thundered.

Matemadanda said the fact that former war veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda had been approached to become minister responsible for the former freedom fighters’ welfare, before he had been exonerated on the untested charges that his Zanu PF enemies had brought against him, showed that their allegations were baseless in the first place.

“They may think that they have fired us (from Zanu PF, and as leaders of war veterans), but they don’t have the capacity. No one holds the title deeds of the party. We didn’t go to war to follow anyone. We went to war to free Zimbabwe, we won the freedom and now must enjoy the fruits,” he said.

Matemadanda said people such as former War Veterans minister Christopher Mutsvangwa and others who had been expelled from Zanu PF “are still part of the party, no matter how much other people will want to wish them away”.

“What is important is not to be in the politburo, but to be in the revolution. People who freed this country had no positions. We are above factions as war veterans. We didn’t fight for a particular individual and we don’t want to build dictators or cultists.

“We know one day (president) Mugabe is going to go and we don’t want a cult leader to take over.

“We want a simple thinking comrade to takeover. This business of making other people cults is what makes other people think that this country belongs to them,” he charged.

Matemadanda had also previously roundly slated the Zanu PF politburo at a meeting in Bulawayo — saying the party’s top decision-making structure outside congress had become a “disciplinary politburo”, while Zanu PF itself was now a “party for firing not hiring”.

Kana purazi, business risisina charichaburitsa vano retrencha vanhu. Zanu PF iri kuretrencha nekuti hapasisina chiri kubudako. Rugare Gumbo succintly expressed ZPF's vision - "working together with disaffected supporters of embattled VP Emmerson Mnangagwa.....Matemadanda's.. and other former Zanu PF bigwigs, who were booted out of the former liberation movement, ......if this will help dislodge President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF from power in the 2018 national elections." "Matemadanda said people such as ...minister Christopher Mutsvangwa & others who had been expelled from Zanu PF are still part of the party, no matter how much other people will want to wish them away”. ZPF is a party of retrenchees and crossing the floor. Ana Gumbo kuzoziva kuti Zanu yakashata 2014/2016 ko over 30 years dzamapedza muchidya neZanu. Zimbabweans are fed up and against an evil system perpetuating murder, torture, greed, corruption, injustice, rule by a handful for their benefit (families and cronies), economic collapse - values Zanu PF stands for.

Shoko Ndirori - 17 March 2016

the reason why Zimbabwe is this situation is because an average Zimbabwean doesn't want the truth. below are some of the truths that people routinely circumvent: 1. rwavhi gukurahundi Mugabe committed genocide in Zimbabwe mainly the gukurahundi atrocities of the 1980s. this is the reason why he doesn't want to vacate the throne because he knows that he will be arrested. this has nothing to do with his marriage to grace is this come well after he had committed the crimes. 2. grace is a useless slut who left her marriage to get married to rwavhi because of pecuniary gains. 3. joice mujuru was the main driver of corruption in zanu with her late hubby rex. she owns a number of farms, mine and buildings around the country. she has no positive contribution to make to the country given her horrendous performance in govt for the past 35 years. she is a liar who wants us to believe that she always had differences with Mugabe yet she begged him to stay on the eve of her official cashiering. the fact that on top of her priorities is the chasing of solo's killers shows that she is in it for her own benefit and not for national benefit. tsvangirayi lost his wife in dodgy circumstances but never has he said that he wants to avenge that. also, joice consistently said that she has no ambition to become president now she is lying that people requested her to be president. the day we learnt to accept and tell the truth, our country and ourselves shall be liberated!!!

josphat mugadzaweta - 17 March 2016

I agree with the observation "Zimbabweans are fed up and against an evil system perpetuating murder, torture, greed, corruption, injustice, rule by a handful for their benefit (families and cronies) economic collapse- values ZANU-PF stands for". From it's inception, if ZANU-PF had not embarked on murdering all the collective brilliant minds that disagreed with some of it's policies, Zimbabwe could've been in a better shape. Imagine if brilliant minds such as Eddison Zvobgo were still around? How many promising, prominent leaders did Ian Smith murder? Leave what he couldn't do Robert Mugabe.

Chibwechitedza - 17 March 2016

The worst mistake that ZPF will make is admitting anyone into the party without conducting proper scrutiny, just because ZPF wants to dislodge ZANU Pf from power. The same thing happened to the MDC, and they ended up recruiting secret service guys, and that led to the party being infiltrated by Zanu pf easily.. I hope the ZPF will not make the same mistake.

Ano - 17 March 2016

A good soldier fights a warn return to camp.yu dnt build a seperate camp,just beoz yu think the general dnt like yu.yu go bak to camp n face the general.These expelled comrades need to come bak to zanu n fight to prove yo innosence.dont be forced to run.if its yo game to run,then it will catchup wth yu again inPF,yu will be expelled again by yo comrades.Wil yu run again to form another party.because lets face it sister,yu did not form PF.yu were pushed to join n lead it,by Rugare.The Welshman and Mutambara thing.dont be blind to this fact.it will come to haunt yu later.

viola gwena - 17 March 2016

A grand coalition hey? With the same old faces singing the same old songs and making the same old false promises? What we now need are new faces in politics with new ideas.....problem is that Bob will never tolerate any true opposition or opposition that his CIO aren't in control of? True freedom is a long way off in Zimbabwe,

Perekedza Mbuya - 17 March 2016

A grand coalition hey? With the same old faces singing the same old songs and making the same old false promises? What we now need are new faces in politics with new ideas.....problem is that Bob will never tolerate any true opposition or opposition that his CIO aren't in control of? True freedom is a long way off in Zimbabwe,

Perekedza Mbuya - 17 March 2016

Let war vets form their party and we the majority the civilians carry on with our Morgan a civilian who stood with us for 17 years during very difficulty times and tamed reduced and Mugabe to an ordinary leader which has made these cowards from other political parties realise Mugabe is beatable Civilians want him to finish off from where he left in the joint govt after he brought back our economy from the grave only to die again when Mugabe and Mujuru stole our votes ..

Diibulaanyika - 17 March 2016

Nhai varume, we desperately need the vampire to leave office, but lets properly advise Save whether he needs to be part of ZPF. The disgruntled war vets who were the pillar of ZANU PF in stifling opposition victory, will eventually overwhelm MDC-T to the extent that Tsvangirai 's cause will be diluted. I believe the Tsvangirai brand , which is the FATHER OF OPPOSITION in Zimbabwe must be preserved. An am Mujuru, varege knit ana mooches dzafa. The only man who saw the evil of Mugabe is Tsvangirai. He must be recognised for that. Ana am Mujuru, war vets, and all expelled ZANU PF members are joining Save. Infact they wouldn't be saying what they are saying today of they had not been expelled. watch the space, even Kasukuwere will join ZPF once expelled and begib vilifying Mugabe. True reason must recognise Tsvangirai. He saw the evil 25 years ago, the ones whose voices are loudest today only saw the same evil 30 DAYS ago. Of all people, Muliswa, Jabulani to appear in MDC-T rallies, is not really a principle, but they are finding a platform to revenge their erstwhile friends who have snatched the loot. Tsvangirai for coalition Presidency- it must not be contested. Biti and company are mere MDC- T off shoot. It will be the greatest joke and injustice for Biti, Mujuru, Ncube, Jabulani etc to steal the limelight from the FATHER OF OPPOSITION politics in Zimbabwe=TSVANGIRAI. It will be the greatest misnomer of Zimbabwean politics

obert maseko - 17 March 2016

Our country is in trouble because of these liberators and war vets. Remember how they squandered that notorious handout they demanded from Bob? What did the povo get? A povo that did most of the fighting if truth be told. Zilch! They have continued to squander at will, destroying our once beautiful coontry Just because ZANU has rigged and murdered its way to power should not make us take us our eye off the main opposition. The MDC led by Morgan. That's our only way to salvation. And Morgan should believe in the people. A people who are thoroughly fed up with anything ZANU.

Dunlop Munjanja - 17 March 2016

MUJURU AND COMPANY ARE INTERESTED IN CHANGING THE DICTATOR, PRESIDENT MUGABE, BUT NOT THE OPPRESSIVE DICTATORIAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT, WE MUST RESIST THAT.

Patrick Guramatunhu - 17 March 2016

This PF thing is just a version of ZANU PF (ZANU2.0). It will be stupid dear Zimbabweans to give them a chance.

Inini - 18 March 2016

Zimbabwe the truth is that, Mugabe must go, first then we will see others later, let's unite with deep scrutiny removing ZANU dogs from joining us zimpf and father of opposition kwakumberi

Sekuru Dlodlo - 18 March 2016

of the two alternatives that mdc t and this new kid on the platform pf it appears the pf is the better option. mdc t has a dictator who uses tactics similar to those of bob. from now on, we don't want to nurse a cult that will trouble us in the future. we will go with the pf for now. morgan will not want to chinga maiitiro and allow another to lead even though he promised he wouldn't lead beyond three terms. he is a handiende type just like mugabe. so far 17yrs as president of the mdc t.

zvirozviyedzwa - 18 March 2016

at the inception of the mdc party in 1999 tsvangirai said that he would demonstrate to the country how democracy works by serving only three terms and then he would pass the baton. in 2014 at the expiry of his tenure, he changed the constitution to allow himself to be the president of the party unendingly. not only that. anyone who opposes him especially in this matter, he purges out of the party just like all dictators do. it would be a grave mistake to allow such characters access to security apparatus because you wouldn't be able to move them from power. he gave us the people of zimbabwe this promise and we trusted him but now he has betrayed the trust and for that reason we will never trust him in the future. all this is besides his short-comings and lapses in judgment in general. so, come 2018, power kuna mai mujuru. machinja kana musingadi kuchinja leader, you can't be sloganeering about change that doesn't happen in your camp. a promise should be kept.

zvirozviyedzwa - 18 March 2016

You obviously have Tsvangson down to rights. You failed, even once to mention the most destructive individual to have been visited on our Country, Bob and his ZANU. Mai Mujuru and her husband Rex looted Zim's economy to the tune of Billions. And you want people like that to continue managing our country's affairs? One has to question credibility of your contributions.

Dunlop Munjanja - 18 March 2016

@Dunlop Munjanja kkkkkkkk even lunatics contribute here my bro one of those lunatics is Zviro please never take him serious he does most of his contributions at Engutsheni

Diibulaanyika - 18 March 2016

Zimbabwe politics are politics of the stomach. No one is putting the country first. Tsvangirai is a dictactor as much as Mugabe is. Mujuru is a liar and a con woman who is an opportunist. The war veterans likewise are also opportunists, they put their interests first and the ordinary Zimbabwean last. Who can offer Zimbos change? In all these self serving leaders, some who have been in government since black majority was attained i do not see a leader. We need someone unsullied by greed. We dont need war credentials to lead or do we? We need someone who is in touch with world politics and economics not this stupid nationalist agenda that only serves to nourish the few. We need a young person with a vision beyond race and anger against perceived enemies. We need a world player because we cannot survive in a vacuum. Mugabe and his cronies have failed. will the real President stand up and take his place please

Talent Mazibuko - 24 March 2016

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